Stock feed mechanism



Se t. 14, 1937. D. H. MONTGOMERY r-r'r AL 9 STOCK FEED MECHANI'SM FiledSept. 11, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I u E INVENTO R5 DONALQ/l. MONTGOMERYARTHUR H. JOBEAT W 2 ATTORNEYS P 1937- D. H. MONTGOMERY ET AL ,0

STOCK FEED MECHANISM Filed Sept. '11, 19:55 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Sept. 14,1937. D. H. MONTGOMERY El AL 2,093,112

STOCK FEED MECHANISM Filed Sept. 11, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 DONALD HARTHUR 75v wk 1 \P Patented Sept. 14, 1937 PATENT OFFICE 2,093,112 ISTOCK FEED MECHANISM Donald H. Montgomery,

Berlin, and Arthur H.

Jobert, New Britain, Conn, assignors, by means assignments, Company,Connecticut to The New Britain Machine New Britain,

Conn, a corporation of Application September 11, 1935, Serial No. 40,076

9 Claims.

Our invention relates to a bar machine and more particularly to stockfeed mechanism for such a machine.

In stocking up a bar machine the bar stock is bumped through the feedtube and up against a stock stop. In order to prevent the stock fromdrifting back away from the stock stop when the spindle is put inrotation and before the chuck is closed, resort is often had to manualclosing of the chuck while the stock is up against the stock stop. Sucha procedure is both time and labor consuming. Furthermore, operatorsoften restock while the spindle is in rotation, thus subjectingthemselves to serious dangers. In bumping stock through the feed tube,if the feed spool remains in engagement with the feed shoe, there islikelihood of damage to either the feed shoe or the spool or both.

It is an object of our invention to provide means to overcome thedifiiculties and disadvantages above enumerated.

More specifically it is an object to provide a bar machine with certainfeatures in the Way of safeguards to prevent or discourage an operatorfrom stocking the machine while the spindle is rotating, as well as toprevent bumping the stock through while the feed shoe and feed tubespool are in engagement with each other.

It is another object to provide means for definitely maintaining a newbar of stock which has been bumped through the feed tube and intoengagement with the stock stop in engagement with the latter after thespindle has been started in rotation and before the chuck has closed.

It is a further object to provide means for stopping the spindlerotation and at the same time disengaging the feed shoe from the feedspool and preventing restarting of the spindle after stocking up untilthe feed shoe has again become engaged with the feed spool.

It is still another object to provide means for stopping the spindlecorrelated to one or more features of stock feed mechanism.

Other objects and various features of invention will be hereinafterpointed out or will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

Briefly stated, in a preferred form of the invention We employ a feedslide urged in a stock feeding direction by means ofa spring butrestrained or guided in stock feeding direction by a receding cam. Thestock feed slide is retracted by means of a cam. The feed slide embodiesa feed shoe and what we term a return shoe, the feed shoe being normallyengaged between the flanges of the feed spool and the return shoe beinglocated forwardly of the front flange of the spool and serving to takethe thrusts incident to bumping stock through the feed tube. When barstock in the spindle has been exhausted to such an extent that the feedmechanism would feed short, the feed slide is moved forward under theinfluenceof the spring to an abnormal extent, the chuck of course beingopen. When in thatgeneral position the feed tube is restocked. Weprovide means for retracting the feed slide and with it the feed tube aslight amount and maintaining the same in such slightly retractedposition while the stock is bumped through .the feed tube and up againstthe stock stop. During such restocking the feed shoe has been retractedand the feed spool is restrained against forward movement by the returnshoe. When the feed tube has been restocked the feed shoe is againengaged with the spool and the tube is released from its retractingmeans and urged forward by the feed spring. If the stock is notdefinitely up against the stock stop it will be definitely urged intoengagement therewith and so held until after the spindle has been put inrotation and the stock automatically chucked.

When it is necessary to restock as aforesaid, we preferablysubstantially simultaneously slightly retract the feed slide, withdrawthe feed shoe from the feed spool and actuate a machine control member,such as an electric switch, for stopping the spindle rotation.Preferably the machine may not be again started until the feed shoe isin proper engagement with the feed spool.

Specifically, we shall describe our invention as embodied in a multiplespindle bar machine of thetype disclosed in Gridley et a1. application,Serial No. 551,136, filed July 16, 1931.

In the drawings which show, for illustrative purposes only, a preferredform of the invention- Fig. l is a fragmentary end view of a bar machineof the type disclosed in said Gridley et al. application and illustratesfeatures of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side sectional View through the machine shown in Fig. 1 andillustrating features of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a more or less diagrammatic view in partial section of aspindle and various features associated with a machine of the typeindicated and illustrates features of the invention;

Fig. i is a fragmentary View similar to Fig. 1 but illustrating parts indifferent positions; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the means for retracting orcamming back the feed slide before stocking up or restocking.

In said drawings and as further disclosed in said Gridley et a1.application the machine comprises a frame 5, having a spindle carrier 3and a plurality of spindles "i, as will be understood. Each spindleincludes a spring chuck 3, which may be actuated as by means of a balltype chucking device, designated generally 9 and aotuable by a chuckingslide it] and chucking cam ll, engageable with a roller l2 on the slide.Within each spindle is a feed tube l3, having spring feed fingers M forfrictionally gripping the bar of stock 45, as will be understood. Thefeed tube is provided with a spool comprised of flanges iii-4i anddefining a spool groove I8 therebetween.

A feed slide i9 is mounted for sliding movement on a pair of rods 23-2|,carried by the machine frame. The chucking slide 19 is likewise mountedon the same pair of rods. The feed slide i9 carries or embodies what maybe termed a return shoe 22, which is preferably a fixed part of theslide. The slide also carries a feed shoe 23, whichis mounted upon apair of studs 2424, slidable in the feed slide and resiliently urgedoutwardly so as to move the feed shoe into engagement with the groove [8of the feed spool. The feed shoe extends arcuately and is of a length tofit within the feed spool of the feed tube in the feeding station, asindicated at 25 in Fig. 1, and to remain in engagement during most ofthe indexing movement of the feed tube from the position shown at 25until it reaches the first work station, indicated at 25. The machineframe carries a bracket 2i, adjustably secured on a pair of rods, one ofwhich is indicated at 23. The bracket is adjustable along the rods 28,so as to take care of various feeds. The bracket 2'! carries a guardring 29, positioned in a line with or so as to register with the feedshoe 23 when the latter is in fully normally retracted position. Thusthe spools of the feed tubes are held against any endwise movement,whether or not engaged with the stock by the guard ring in all workstations and such guard ring delivers the spool in each feed tube to thefeed shoe 23 and the latter, of course, delivers each spool to the guardring 29 during indexing.

The feed slide 59 has a feed roll 30, engageable with a feed cam 31,carried on the same cam shaft with the chucking cam H. The feed slide isnormally urged and fed forwardly in a feeding direction by means of aspring 32 interposed between the slide and the frame. During feedingmovement the spring moves the slide forwardly and the receding cam 3|limits the speed of feeding until the stock engages the stock stop, asindicated in Fig. 3, after which the receding cam has no further effecton the feed slide and the feed slide is held stationary by the stockstop in engagement with the stock.

When a bar of stock is exhausted in any one feed tube the feed slidemoves forwardly to an abnormal position and the machine may then bestopped, either automatically or semi-automatically, for example, asindicated in said Gridley et al. application, and the chuck is open, asindicated in Fig. 3. The butt end of stock is then removed and a new baris to be inserted.

Our invention relates to certain features connected with restocking aswill now be explained.

We have provided means for slightly retracting the feed slide duringrestocking so that when the stock has been bumped through the feed tubeand into engagement with the stock stop and the feed slide released thespring 32 will continue to urge the stock into engagement with the stockstop and the stock cannot drift back, as would be the case if it hadsimply been bumped into engagement with the stock stop and the spoolthen reengaged with the feed shoe.

In the form shown we employ a stop bar 35, freely slidable through abracket 36 on the slide and provided with a resilient washer 3'! andstop nuts 38. The rear end of the bar 35 is fixedly carried in the hubof a lever member 39 and the bar 35 is urged and normally held forwardlyby a spring 49 interposed between a collar 4! and the rear frame part 42of the machine. As stated above, when the stock has been exhausted the 1spring 32 moves the slide forwardly to an abnormal feed position, thatis, to such an extent that it is restrained from further movement bycoming into engagement with the spring Iwasher 3'1, backed up by-thestop nuts 33. While the slide is thus restrained by bar 35 the lever 39is rotated clockwise (Figs. 1 and 2) by means of the handle 43 and in sodoing the lever and rod 35 are cammed rearwardly, the particular meansemployed being a round headed fixed cam stud 44, carried by the frame 42which is normally engaged with the flared opening 45 in the lever 39when the latter is in normal position. When the lever and rod 35 arecammed back they will be positioned substantially as shown in Fig. 3,the normal position being as shown in detail in Fig. 5. Such a movementof the lever is availed of for withdrawing the feed shoe 23 from thespool of the feed tube in feeding station and also for stopping therotation of the spindle.

In the form shown we employ a lever 46, having a fork engageable over apin 4? on the feed shoe and rigidly mounted on a pivot shaft 58extending through the rear end of the frame. On the outside of the framethe shaft 43 has rigidly mounted thereon a second lever 19, having atthe free end thereof a face 59 for engagement with either of the camfaces 5! or 52 of the lever 39. The face 5| is nearer the pivot point orshaft 35 than is the face 52. Consequently, when the lever 39 is rotatedclockwise from the position shown in Fig. l and into the position shownin Fig. 4, the lever 49 is moved or cammed downwardly or clockwise andconsequently the lever 45 will be rocked so as to withdraw the feed shoe23 from the feed spool of the feed tube in the feed station. Thus, onthe clockwise rotation of the lever 39 the first action will be to causethe lever 39 to be cammed out on the round nosed pin 34, so as toretract the rod 35 and with it the feed slide. Further rotation, asstated, causes disengagement of the feed shoe 23 from the feed spool.The feed spool is then restrained against forward movement by theengagement of the forward spool flange IS with the return slide 22, asshown more particularly in Figs. 2 and 3.

The lever 49 has a lug or bracket 53, carrying a switch actuating member54,-the-head 55 of which abuts the bracket 53 when the lever is in theposition shown in Fig. l, and serves to prevent inward movement of thepin 54. A spring 55 interposed between the bracket 55 and the head 5'!on the actuating pin 54 urges the pin inwardly or in general downwardly,as illustrated. The head 5'! of the pin is positioned over a push buttonswitch member 58 in the switch box 59, and if the lever 49 holds theswitch actuating pin 54 in the position shown in Fig. 1, the switch 58will not be actuated. However, early in the rocking movement of thelever 43 the spring 56 serves to force the head 51 downwardly to actuatethe switch 59. The latter is in series with the main starting switch ofthe solenoid or other main motor control switch, so that upon the firstrocking movement of the lever 49 the switch 58 is actuated so as to stopthe main motor or throw out a clutch or other device for stopping therotation of the spindles.

The operation of our invention is as follows:

Upon a run-out of stock in a spindle the feed works may be thrown outeither manually or automatically or semi-automatically, for exam ple, asshown in said Gridley et al. application. The feed works are thrown outwith the spindle in loading station, the chuck open and the feed slidein its maximum forward position, that is, with the feed slide restrainedagainst further forward movement under the influence of feed spring 32by the rod 35 and its abutment collar or nut. The operator then graspsthe handle 43 to rock the lever 39 in a clockwise direction from theposition shown in Fig. 1 until the lever occupies the position shown inFig. 4. During such rocking movement of the lever 39 the rod 35 andconsequently the feed slide are cammed rearwardly by the cam stud 44,the switch 58 actuated to stop the spindles and the feed shoe 23withdrawn from engagement with the feed spool. The latter is thenrestrained against forward movement by the return shoe 23. A fresh barof stock is then inserted through the rear of the feed tube and bumpedthrough the feed fingers. It will be noted that the feed spool flange IEwill bump against the return shoe 23 and there is no possibility ofinjuring the more delicate feed shoe 23 and spool groove l8 during thebumping of a fresh bar of stock through the feed fingers and up to thestock stop. Furthermore by withdrawing the feed shoe from engagementwith the feed spool it will be seen that bumping the bar of stockthrough the feed tube is facilitated for the reason that the bar ofstock and feed tube may be easily drawn rearwardly and then quicklyforced forward until the flange I6 abuts the return shoe 23. If the feedshoe 23 remained in engagement with the spool groove I8 it would benecessary for the operator in stocking up to manually withdraw theentire feed slide against the action of the relatively heavy spring 32,in order to bump the stock through. Restocking is thus greatlyfacilitated and all danger of damage to the feed shoe is obviated.

When the fresh bar of stock has been inserted and forced into engagementwith the stock stop the ordinary operation with prior art machines wouldbe the manual closing of the chuck, as by engagement of the wrench withthe square head 60 of the lever 6|, which carries a roll 62 sliding inthe grooved way 63 of the chucking slide Hi. In fact, for purposes ofillustration the chucking slide is shown in Fig. 2 in the position itwould occupy if manually closed as aforesaid. Such manual closing of thechuck in many prior art machines is necessary because of the fact thatif the spindles are again put in rotation before the chuck is closedthere is likelihood of having the stock drift back away from the stockstop before the chucking cam automatically closes the chuck andtherefore the first feed will be short. However, with a machine equippedwith our improved devices it is not necessary to manually close thechuck (in many cases a very laborious undertaking).

When the stock has been forced manually into engagement with the stockstop the feed spool will normally be in engagement with the return shoe22. The lever 39 is then rocked from the position shown in Fig.4 to theposition shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The first part of the movement of thelever 39 serves to permit the return of the feed shoe 23 to engagementwith the feed spool groove l8. Further movement causes the engagementofthe head of the switch actuator 54 with the bracket 53 and permitsactuation of the push button switch 58 under spring action or otherwiseand finally the cam stud 44 drops into the tapered opening 45 of thelever and permits forward movement of the feed slide so that with thefeed shoe 23 now engaged with its spool the feed tube will be urgedforwardly by the feed spring 32, so as to urge the stock into engagementwith the stock stop and maintain it in engagement with the stock stopuntil the chucking slide H automatically chucks the stock, after whichthe feed slide is retracted by the return cam on the feed cam drum afterthe machine is again started, as will be understood.

It will be noted that, since the switch 59 is in series with the mainstarting switch of the machine and that switch controls a solenoid orother device, the mere throwing of the lever 39 to the position shown inFig. 1 will not ordinarily start the machine but merely positions theswitch member 58 so that upon actuation of the main starting switchmanually the spindles will again be put in rotation.

It will be observed that if, for any reason, the feed spool is not insuch a position that the feed shoe 23 will engage with the spool groovel8 but instead rides on top of the flange it, the lever 49 will notreturn to the position shown in Fig. 1 and the switch 58 will bemaintained in its depressed position and, that switch being in seriesthe main starting switch, the machine may not be again started until thefeed shoe is properly engaged with the groove of the feed spool. Thus,likelihood of damage to any of the parts by reason of a failure of thefeed shoe to engage the feed spool is eliminated.

It will be seen that by means of our invention restocking is renderedrelatively easy and further the spindle rotation must be stopped beforerestocking takes place. Thus, the great danger of operators attemptingto restock with the spindles in rotation is avoided. Furthermore, shortfeeding immediately after restocking is entirely avoided and any dangerof damage to the feed shoe is avoided and further damage thereto byreason of improper engagement or failure of engagement of the feed shoeand the feed spool is also avoided.

While the invention has been described in considerable detail and apreferred form shown as applied to a multiple spindle bar machine asdisclosed in said Gridley et a1. application, it is to be observed thatvarious changes may be made and the machine equipped with various otherdevices cooperating with or combined with the features of our presentinvention and that various features are applicable to machines of othertypes, all as is contemplated within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a machine of the character indicated, a spindle. a feed. tube insaid spindle, abutment means to limit movement of said tube in feedingdirection whereby stock may be manually fed through said tube up to astock stop with said tube in forward position as limited by saidabutment means, and means for moving said abutment means to permitfurther forward movement of said tube, for the purpose described.

2. In a machine of the character indicated, a spindle, a feed tube, afeed shoe for engagement with said feed tube, means for actuating saidfeed shoe for moving said feed tube, and a common means for withdrawingsaid feed shoe from engagement with said feed tube and retracting saidfeed tube and holding the same in retracted position while stocking saidtube with bar stock for the purpose described.

3. In a machine of the character indicated, a spindle, a feed tube, afeed slide embodying a feed shoe and a return shoe, means for urgingsaid slide in a stock feeding direction, means for moving said slide inreturn direction, and means for retracting said slide and disengagingsaid feed shoe from said feed tube while stocking said feed tube withbar stock, for the purpose described.

4. In a machine of the character indicated, a spindle, a stock feedtube, a feed slide having means for engagement with said feed tube foractuating the latter, stop means for limiting the forward movement ofsaid feed slide upon a runout of bar stock in said tube, and means forretracting and holding retracted said stop means while restocking saidfeed tube with bar stock, for the purpose described.

5. In a machine of the character indicated, a spindle, a feed tubetherein, a stock feed slide having a feed shoe and a return shoe forengagement with said feed tube, and means for simultaneously disengagingsaid feed shoe and said feed tube and retracting said return shoe forretracting said feed tube when stocking said feed tube with bar stock,for the purpose described.

6. In a machine of the character indicated, a spindle, a feed tubetherein, a feed shoe for engagement therewith, a machine control member,means for disengaging said feed shoe and feed tube and actuating saidmachine control member for stopping said machine, and means. forpreventing starting of said machine until said feed shoe is againproperly engaged with said feed tube.

'7. In a machine of the character indicated, a spindle, a feed tubetherein, a feed shoe for engagement with said feed tube for actuatingthe same, and common means for disengaging said feed shoe and feed tube,stopping said machine and retracting and holding retracted said feed.tube, for the purpose described.

8. In a machine of the character indicated, a spindle, a feed tubetherein, a feed slide embodying a feed shoe and a return shoe, bothengageable with said feed tube, a spring for urging said feed slide infeeding direction, a cam for guiding said feed slide in feedingdirection, a stop bar engageable with said feed slide upon an abnormalinward feed movement thereof, and means for retracting said stop bar andfeed slide a small amount and holding the same in retracted positionagainst the tension of said feed spring, for the purpose described.

9. In a machine of the character indicated, a spindle, a feed tubetherein, a feed slide for said feed tube, a machine control member, anda common means for retracting said feed slide and hoiding the same inretracted position and detaching said feed shoe from said feed tube andactuating said control member to stop said machine, said means beingarranged to prevent return or said machine-actuating member tomachine-actuating position until the complete return of said shoe toengagement with said feed tube.

DONALD H. MONTGOMERY. ARTHUR H. JOBERT.

